- Poor people, lazy, right?
Wrong.
(upbeat music)
Today, we're gonna debunk five common
and super wrong myths about poverty in the US.
Myth one, poor people are just lazy.
If they worked harder, they wouldn't be poor.
Sure, let's just generalize every poor person
and blame them for the systemic and institutional barriers
that contribute to their poverty.
Okay, let's bust this myth.
The majority of Americans in poverty actually work
one or more jobs and nearly six million Americans
currently working part-time jobs
wish they had full-time jobs.
Oh, and who caused the massive job losses
of the great recession of 2008?
Hint, hint, not poor people.
Not to mention, since the 1970s wages have basically
stagnated while life has gotten much more expensive.
Also, we should probably keep in mind that 35%
of the poor who don't work are actually children,
the elderly, and the disabled,
people who often can't work.
Sorry little Susie, being three isn't an excuse.
Myth two, if poor people just laid off the booze and drugs,
they wouldn't be poor.
I'm gonna let my friend Trae handle this one.
- Look, it's not like using drugs turns you poor.
If that happened, then half of Hollywood
would be living in a cardboard box.
Drug and alcohol abuse is an issue for some poor people,
but it's not a major cause of poverty.
In the past few years, several states,
including my home state of Tennessee,
have actually implemented a system of drug testing
for welfare applicants exactly because of this stereotype,
and guess what they found?
Across the board, they found that applicants living
at or below the poverty line actually have a lower rate
of drug use than the population at large.
Turns out, drugs are expensive, who knew?
So, it's not helping anybody and it's a solution
to a problem that doesn't exist.
Hey, here's an idea, maybe we should start drug testing
the rich people who come up with these laws
in the first place.
Oh wait, that's right, the Supreme Court has already ruled
that it's literally unconstitutional to drug test
members of congress and applicants for political office.
Because that makes sense.
- Myth three, if poor people just studied harder
and went to college, they'd be fine.
Look, I'm all for working hard and going to college,
but education isn't a poverty cure-all.
The biggest problem is that in this country
public schools are largely funded by local taxes,
which means high poverty districts have less money to spend
per student than wealthier districts.
15.6% less, in fact.
So, poor neighborhoods have poorer schools,
which means lower rates of success for poor students,
making it much tougher to succeed.
And let's not forget that the overall cost of college
has increased 1,120% since 1978.
And a degree doesn't mean you'll be rolling in dough.
Poor people face so many educational hurdles.
Saying college, college, college isn't really helpful.
Thanks for trying tough.
Myth four, most poor people are the blacks
in the inner city.
- Okay, no, most poor people in the US aren't black.
Actually, most poor people in the US look
and a lot of them sound like me.
It's true that the rate of poverty for black people
in America is disproportionately higher,
but the actual number of poor people, way more white people.
Part of the reason the stereotype persists
is because anytime poor people are presented in the media,
it's usually poor black people in the cities.
And this stereotype sucks for everybody.
Black people are made out to be something
that they're really not,
and poor white people aren't cared about at all.
The only time a camera ever shows up at places
where I'm from is if they're there
to film an episode of Cops.
- So, basically the media is racist and classist.
What else is new?
Myth five, being poor in America is better
than being poor anywhere else.
Okay, now try to follow along.
Just because poverty is bad somewhere else,
doesn't mean being poor in America is good.
There are 1.5 million American households
living on less than two dollars per person a day.
That's below the global extreme poverty line.
13 million children in America live in households
that lack the means to get enough nutritious food
on a regular basis,
and they live much shorter lives.
- Guess what?
Being poor just sucks no matter where you live.
- The important thing to remember here is that being poor
is not a moral failing.
It doesn't mean you're any less hardworking
or any less deserving of reaching your dreams.
And maybe the sooner we realize that,
the sooner we can start finding better ways
to pull people out of poverty.
Thanks for watching, we'll see you next time
right her on Decoded.
And special thanks to Trae Crowder,
otherwise known as The Liberal Redneck, for helping out.